Steele, Richard

Richard (1672-1729), an English essayist. Of English parentage, he was born at Dublin. He was a schoolmate, a fag, and, later, a literary partner of Addison. He was a sort of scapegrace. He left Oxford to enlist as a private in the Horse Guards, and was cast overboard by his angry father. He drifted to London. He was a popular, rollicking, drinking, gambling young fellow. He rose to the rank of captain. He wrote articles on political affairs and attracted the attention of the government. He was appointed to edit the Gazette, an official announcement of government appointments, promotions, and important missions. To be gazetted for bravery was the ambition of every British officer. Steele also sat in Parliament and, had he not been a spendthrift, might have been a man of substance. As it was he lay in prison for debt part of the time and spent a considerable part of the rest in carousing and in reforming.

Steele had no success in reforming himself, but he was a goodhearted man and was thoroughly familiar with the follies of the world. He conceived an excellent plan for reforming society. Acting on a thought suggested by his former connection with the government publication, he decided to establish a social gazette which should appear regularly and be written in a bright, pungent style calculated to interest society people of the town and country. He had already written a few comedies designed to amuse people, and at the same time correct fashionable follies. He now enlisted Addison in the establishment of The Tattler. The two friends filled a small sheet three times a week with foreign news and with remarks on the social manners of the day. We here see the beginning of the foreign dispatches and editorials of the modern newspaper. No doubt the two friends had sport in planning what to say and in watching the effect on fashionable people. They met with companions at a London coffee-house and had their share of fun in hearing how my lady and my lord squirmed. The Tattler appeared in 1709 and reached 271 issues. The Spectator, a sheet of similar purpose, was begun as a daily in 1711, and, though suspended for a time, reached 635 issues. A third paper, The Guardian, appeared 175 times. Addison furnished rather more than a third-really the best third-of the articles, but Steele deserves credit for beginning and managing the enterprise. His contributions to the pages of the three papers would be celebrated were they not outclassed by those of Addison. In later years, Steele grew angry with the Whigs because he was not remembered more generously in appointments to office. When Addison was in office, Steele felt that his old friend did not help him properly, and they drifted into opposing parties. Macaulay lays the blame on Steele.

See Addison; Spectator